Happiness is an Option
by pfeffi
Summary: And for that matter, it was the one she always chose. — SilverKotone.


**author's note: **Yay! Another oneshot. This one might seem a little choppy, it was a quick one. It's soulsilvershipping, in case you didn't already know that when you clicked to look at this. I like the pairing, it's very much of an opposites attract relationship, and those are always fun. Enjoy!

**disclaimer: **Pokemon's not mine, still belongs to Nintendo, just as it always has.

* * *

><p><strong>happiness is an option<strong>

_(and for that matter, it was the one she always chose). _

.

.

All her life, Kotone dreamed about becoming a pokemon trainer. She didn't care about the fame or the fortune that came with having a grand title – like Champion, pokemon _master_ – she just wanted to have friends that would be loyal to her, as she would be to them. She wanted to be able to share smiles and memories with creatures that she didn't quite understand, but wanted to learn about it.

That was what made her different from everyone else.

.

.

When she first met Silver, she knew in her heart that he didn't share the same ideals as she did. He wanted the title, the power, and all that came with it; he didn't want the friendships and the bonds that being a pokemon trainer offered. But even if she _knew_, deep inside, that wasn't what he wanted, she still kept faith that he might change his mind.

So even if he scowled, or rolled his eyes, hid his face away behind a curtain of hair, _or even_ mutter curse words under his breath, she would still smile and look at the bright side of things.

Truthfully, her optimism irritated him to no end – but he never outright told her to stop, either.

.

.

The first time she had beaten him, Kotone fiddled with her Cyndaquil's pokeball, biting her lip as though to either prevent a smile, or figure out something to say. Silver wore a stone mask on his face and returned his Totodile to its respective sphere, immediately turning away to leave. He didn't want to see the pigtailed victor any longer.

But she called out to him anyway; "Silver – listen! My mom always says that happiness is an option. You can choose to get bitter over a loss, or you can look on the bright side – you know, that you'll learn from this – and smile and be proud of your Totodile, because it tried its hardest!"

"Shut up." He growled in response, and stalked off.

Two hours later, as he waited for Cherrygrove's resident Nurse Joy to return his Totodile for him, he briefly recalled her words and wondered whether she was right or not.

He scowled and tried to shove the idea out of his mind.

.

.

The day when she beat him (for the umpteenth time), and when she had become Champion and the stars had shined brightest in her eyes, rather than in the sky – that had been the day when he decided that she deserved it more than he did. Even if it was something she had never wanted, something that he had always pursued from day one, he finally understood what she had meant about being friends with his pokemon. He had expected that if he had become Champion, that he would have shared the joy and the pride all by himself. But as he watched her Typhlosion lumber over and hug her along with her Ampharos, her Espeon trill and Kingdra trumpet victoriously, her Bellossom dance and her Pidgeot fly around them joyously, he realized the importance of being friends with his partners, and how he would have missed all that if he had beaten her.

So as Lance crowned her for the second time, on TV, he turned away and stopped watching to release his Feraligatr and pat it awkwardly on its head. It didn't heal all the times he had shouted at it or glared daggers, but it was a start.

And judging by the look in Feraligatr's eyes, he was already halfway there.

.

.

"You should try smiling more often." She said one wintery day, after running into him in Goldenrod.

She still had her trademark hat on, and her pigtails poked out from underneath it, but instead of her sunny little overalls, she wore jeans and a fluffy sweater, and she had a knit scarf that looked to be ridiculously big wrapped around her neck three times. In her mitten covered hands Kotone held a cup of steaming hot chocolate, which she sipped slowly, taking care not to burn her tongue.

"There's nothing to smile at." He replied, bluntly.

Despite the fact that most of her face was covered, he could see a smile light her features as she looked up at him, and laughed; "You really think that?"

"Hn." Of course he did. If he didn't believe it, why would he have said it in the first place?

"I think you should take a moment to look, then." Kotone giggled. "There are plenty of things to be happy at, but if you don't stop to smell the roses sometimes, you'll miss them all."

He scoffed at her words and continued to walk with her until reaching the end of the city, where Kotone took her leave. When she was out of sight, he sat down on a park bench and observed the people walking by, the children playing, the snowmen that had been built, and the remainders of the plants that peeked out of the snow.

The corners of his lips twitched upwards to form the ghost of a smile.

.

.

Contrary to (not-so) popular belief, it was Kotone who kissed him, first.

It happened outside of Blackthorn City, in the evening, two days after Kotone had run into him in the Dragon's Den. The stars twinkled in laughter above them, and they broke apart with rosy faces, and for a long while, neither said a word.

It hadn't been a perfect kiss, in fact, Silver almost ducked his head when she got a little too close, and she had almost missed her mark, but he grudgingly admitted that despite the room for improvement, he liked it.

So when Kotone leaned against him and put her head on his shoulder, he didn't push her away. Instead, he let his fingertips touch hers, and the two of them watched the moon and listened to the faint sound of the Hoothoot that were hidden away in the trees.

And while the kiss might not have been perfect, that, he thought, was.

.

.

"Happiness is an option. You can choose to be happy and make light of a situation, but you don't have to. Personally, I think that being happy is a lot nicer than being sad." He remembered her saying, once (or twice, or countless times before).

And as she lay, sleeping against his shoulder, underneath the shade of an Apricorn tree, he (finally) decided that she was right.


End file.
